1. ¹The Rockefeller University, Laboratory of Human Neurogenetics, New York, NY, USA
2. ²Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics, Center for Neurobiology & Behavior, New York, NY, USA

Correspondence: Professor M Karayiorgou, The Rockefeller University, Laboratory of Human Neurogenetics, 1230 York Avenue, Box #313, New York, NY 10021, USA. Tel: 212 327 7328; Fax: 212 327 7329; E-mail: karayim@rockefeller.edu

Received 4 July 2005; Revised 14 December 2005; Accepted 21 December 2005; Published online 22 February 2006.

Abstract

The efforts to decipher the genetic causes of schizophrenia, one of the most devastating mental illnesses, have reached a turning point. Several linkage findings in schizophrenia have been replicated and, in the last few years, have been followed by systematic fine-mapping efforts to identify positional susceptibility genes. Here, we outline the evidence supporting each of the proposed positional candidate genes and identify some general areas of caution in their interpretation. Several of these findings hold considerable promise both for understanding the neuropathology of this brain disorder, the causes of which remain a mystery, but also for development of novel, mechanism-based treatments for the patients.